A petition is calling for a parking permit scheme around GCHQ headquarters amid claims its workers' 'dangerous' parking is putting lives at risk.

Stephen Lovatt has started a petition for permits to be introduced within the boundaries of the A40, Fiddler’s Green Lane, Marsland Road and Princess Elizabeth Way, in a bid to clamp down on employees from the government spy base parking there.

The 59-year-old, who will be the Conservative candidate for Hester's Way in the Cheltenham Borough Council elections next spring, says a former candidate for the ward has informed him about a longstanding issue in the area.

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Resident Bonnie Toner, 64, of Kempton Grove, says her street and others in the area are full of parked cars during working hours, which she claims are often left on corners and straddling pavements, endangering residents.

Bonnie Toner on the Kempton Grove corner

She believes many of the vehicles belong to employees at the nearby 176-acre base for GCHQ. Often called ‘The Doughnut’ because of its shape, the site has more than 6,000 intelligence agency workers.

Ms Toner said there were no parking problems in the area before the arrival of GCHQ, but now there are cars left near her home on a corner that turns onto another stretch of Kempton Grove.

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The three-year construction of The Doughnut, which ended in 2003, often went round the clock, leaving Ms Toner unable to sleep, she said.

She claimed as the base was erected, she was diagnosed with stress, anxiety and panic disorder, as well as tinnitus, which saw her lose 70 per cent of her hearing in one ear. She claims these conditions were caused by the building work.